We backup all our VHD's using Acronis (full VHD backup nightly)
I was just wondering, if one of our member servers fail (Terminal Services, File Server, etc.) but not domain controllers how would one restore the machine?

Is it as simple as removing the computer account
Restoring the VM to the correct Parent Virtual Server
And when the machine boots up all is ok to go?
Or do we need to keep the computer account in AD and then reboot it?

A non-DC you should be able to just restore - I wouldn't even delete the computer account. It's quite possible if you do the restore quick enough (and quick is relative - WEEKS COULD go by), it should work just fine.

DO NOT do this with a DC unless you only have ONE DC in the network. You should NOT be backing up DCs via imaging unless you have ONLY ONE.

You should ALWAYS do test restores and in a test environment whenever possible.

If we had only one, and we tool system images, do we just build another server and restore the entire system image we took using Windows Backup before hand?

We dont have one, I'm just wondering in these cases?

Like let's say the only DC fails, would it be more appropriately to quickly restore the image or vhd or would it be better to just create a new VHD and restore the backup taken with Windows Backup using the RE environment?

When it comes to DCs, if you have more than one, I would just rebuild the one that failed.

The problem with DCs and images is that you have the 5 FSMO roles. Especially in the case of RID master, if it's handed out a block of RIDs, fails, and is restored, you then have it capable of handing out the same block of RIDs and if that happens, you start having multiple systems/users with the same RIDs - that pretty much KILLS you active directory.

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Yes but the question I'm asking is lets say our domain controller fails and we have a full system image using Windows server backup should we just create a new virtual machine and then use the system backup we took earlier and restore it after booting that VHD into windows RE..

The question I'm asking is if your only domain controller fails what is the best way to approach the situation is it just to use that system backup image and creat a new VM restoring to it or would it better just to use the full VHD copy you took earlier..

1.

Restore the image to a new VM

2.

Create a new VM for a new DC and join it to the domain.

3.

Demote the old DC while telling the wizard that is it NOT the last DC in the domain/forest.

4.

Optional: Instead of demoting the old DC, you can try seizing the roles from the old DC, although I have not had the best of success from this the few times I have done it, but it does work when the OS is totally hosed and recreating a domain is insanely out of the question. I see this works best when the target DC has at least the Schema and RID roles plus the GC.

Step 4 worked for my domain when it had insane timing issues, but it was a 3 DC system. The steps were the same as I could not demote the 2 other DC's (all commands to demote failed miserably), and all DC's basically acted as standalone because of tombstone timeout. So I created 3 new VM's, restored the first DC (snaps are taken monthly of all VM's, regardless of role), joined the other two to the restored domain, then demoted the first (old) one. A little data loss, but better then recreating a 600+ asset domain when the manpower and timelines are tight. This was done on a live domain because there was no alternative and tombstone timeout is rare between active domains, but this particular network is mobile a lot and is offline a lot when stored.

All information given should be tried out in a test environment prior to going live for any system. Not doing so will definitely ensure failure at some point.

I really can't understand why all of this work is necessary to restore the server.
I mean if the company was simply restoring a single Domain Controller, shouldn't they just create a new VHD boot it in windows RE mode using the Windows Server 2008r2 cd and then just point the restore to the windows server image backup from where you stored it? A das or nas, or even an external usb drive.

Just any company with a single domain controller..

Sorry if I'm being a pain I just I'm trying to find the easiest and supported most logical way...

> The question I'm asking is if your only domain controller fails what is the best way to
> approach the situation is it just to use that system backup image and creat a new VM
> restoring to it or would it better just to use the full VHD copy you took earlier..

The saying "six of one and half a dozen of the other" comes to mind - point being - I'd use whatever is newer. The full backup is an image. The VHD is an image. If it's your ONLY DC it doesn't matter.

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